


homebound

by theredhoodie



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, F/M, Gen, I also made up some random ass ships for this so be prepared, Lots of cute family moments, almost everyone from the show makes an appearance here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 06:20:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15989447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredhoodie/pseuds/theredhoodie
Summary: When Raven Reyes moves back home to help out at the family business when her uncle gets injured, she finds herself once again face-to-face with her childhood nemesis. John Murphy's family owns the restaurant across the street from her shop, and Raven has been sending daggers at him ever since he was fifteen and ran over the bike she was custom building. It's been ten years since then, and...not much has changed. Or so she keeps telling herself.





	homebound

**Author's Note:**

> So this idea started out as a tiny nugget and then bloomed into a full fic. It has lots of influence from the Fast & Furious franchise when it comes to cars and family and all that.
> 
> It was really cute and fun to write. I hope everyone enjoys it!
> 
> Lightly edited by me. Sorry for any mistakes.

Raven drummed her fingernails against the countertop before leaning against it with crossed arms, pulling herself up to the tips of her toes. "What d'you gotta do to get some service around here?" she called out.

A moment later, a tall, thin young man ducked under the doorframe, wiping his hands on a stained red rag. "Well, I'll be damned," Jasper Jordan said, a wide grin spreading across his face.

She matched his grin and threw herself at him in a glomp of a hug, uncaring about the grease and sweat and oil covering his skin and coveralls. "It's good to see you!" she exclaimed, giving him a squeeze and then settling back on her heels.

"It's been ages," he replied, leaning against the counter, his back hunched over. Behind him on the wall, the ancient, basic logo of  _MATEO'S AUTO BODY AND REPAIR: A Family Business_  spread out across the wall. The  _family_  was one built out of years of camaraderie and trust and very few blood ties. "I'd ask why you're here but…"

Raven nodded. "He'll be back in here working the computer quicker than his doctor'll like," she replied. Her  _uncle_ Jacapo Sinclair was the main owner of the shop at the moment, and was currently in the hospital after his leg got pinned under a car a few days ago. "I just came from the hospital. He hates it."

"Yep," Jasper nodded, the bulky goggles sitting on the top of his head bobbing with the motion. "Coming back tomorrow, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Home from the hospital, yeah. His leg's in a cast, he should be in a wheelchair but I'm sure he'll be hobbling around." She slowly moved around in the stuffy office, with its ancient computer, six worn out chairs, a gumball machine reformed to dole out sunflower seeds, and the tiny instant coffee station in the far corner. To her right was the door to the bays. She could hear them working out there. "God, this place hasn't changed."

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he commented, straightening up and yanking his goggles down. "Gotta head back in, but I'll see you at the house later? Maya'll be there with Jamie."

She smiled and nodded just as a customer came in from behind her. Raven twisted around, recognizing the older man. "Hey, Mr. Kane," she said with a smile. He had been her history and ethics teacher in high school. He sometimes dabbled in English classes too, and from what she remembered hearing, he was the principal now.

"Raven," he said in surprise. "Haven't seen you around these parts since high school graduation."

She walked behind the counter automatically, her body working on muscle memory. "Yeah. Took off for college in Philly. Got hooked and couldn't leave." She turned to the screen, pulling up his information.

"Have you been doing well?"

Raven shifted her eyes from the screen to the man in front of her. She pondered his question seriously, as if she was prepping to make a debate out of it to present to the class. "Yeah," she finally settled on. "Really well. I've missed home though. Coming back for the holidays isn't the same…"

He nodded, understanding. "I'll just get an oil change today," he prodded.

She clicked on the screen. "Looks like it'll be half an hour."

"Great. I'll run across the street for lunch," Kane said, giving her his keys and tapping the counter cheerfully before stepping back.

Raven pushed herself higher, but it wasn't easy to see across the street passed the bushes that she swore used to only come up to her knee but now were as tall as she was. "Is  _The Bistro_  still there?" she asked. She hadn't even checked, having come the back way into  _Mateo_ 's to avoid the main street.

"Yep," Kane said, reaching for the door. "I swear that place'll stay standing even through an apocalypse." He gave her a wave and then stepped outside.

Raven bit the inside of her cheek as she grabbed his keys and a hanging folder and slipped into the bay area. It was hot as balls in there and the air was thick with noise and humidity. She hooked the bag with the key on one of the ten hooks next to the door to the office. Jasper was in bay 2, a midsize SUV hoisted high above his head.

Zeke Shaw, who, according to Uncle Jacapo, had just gotten out of a six month stint in prison, was just finishing up under the hood of a minivan. She froze when she saw him, cursed herself silently and then shook out her hands.

"Hey!" she called over the noise Jasper was making.

Shaw's head jerked in her direction. He raised his eyebrows and sauntered over the few steps toward her. "Look what the cat dragged in," he commented.

Everyone kept rubbing it in her face that she'd been gone from home for so long. She shifted a little uncomfortably on the small step leading to the office. "Marcus Kane has his car in for an oil change," she replied, ignoring his comment. She slid her eyes to the car parked in the lot.

He didn't bite, only stepping closer. "How you been?"

"Okay," she replied, bringing her eyes back to him as slowly as humanly possible. "I heard you just got outta jail." She met his eyes then, keeping her expression as flat as she could. She would definitely not let herself get dragged back into high school feelings again. High school feelings that had landed her  _arrested_.

Shaw wasn't a bad guy, he just got in a lot of trouble. "It wasn't my fault," he said with a grin and a shrug of his shoulders.

Raven let herself laugh a little, the tension leaving her shoulders. "It was good of Jacapo to hire you back."

"Yep."

"You staying at the house, or do you have your own place?"

"Staying with my cousin, Charmaine. She's a nut, but she lets me stay for free if I buy her tequila and pot pies."

Raven nodded, crossing her arms. It was good to be home, to be surrounded by names and faces of people she knew her whole life. "Still got your bike?"

"Can't ride her for a bit but yeah. Still looks sharp." He gave her  _the eyes_ , the ones she fell for because she was feeling destructive and in need of a distraction.

"She better! I'll tan your hide if you put a single scratch on her." Raven had built that bike for him with her own two hands. Before she crushed his little heart by breaking up with him, after the arrest, before college.

God, so much of her life happened in this town. It was like stepping back into a time capsule.

Before he could say something else—and it looked to her that he was about to ask her out to tacos at the truck on the corner of Freeman and Wade—she stepped back, opening the office door behind her back. "I gotta go. People to see."

The meager AC in the office felt nice for a moment until she left through the front and circled around the high hedges to a break in the shrubs. Feeling like a total creeper, she glanced to make sure she wouldn't be hit by any cars turning onto the street, and then crossed the side street. Hovering at the stop sign, she turned her eyes across Main Street to where one of many other family owned businesses still thrived.

_The Bistro_  was an Italian-ish place that made everything but pizza and where most teenagers hung out when Raven was in high school. It was owned by the Murphy family, and had been since 1953. The awning over the front door and shading the big windows had once been red and white but had been replaced since Raven's last visit at Christmas. It was now blue and white and they sported a neon  _Open_  sign in the window.

Pressing her lips together in a line, she crossed her arms tightly and squinted. Marcus Kane stood at the counter, chatting with someone who was a teenage girl that she didn't recognize. Someone burst out of the kitchen's double doors, a plate in hand.

John Murphy, hair cut shorter than she remembered from high school and a scruffy beard along his jaw, handed the food over to Kane.

Raven was known for holding grudges—she didn't forgive easily but she was  _trying_  to be better about that. Her best friend and roommate in Philly, Clarke, was trying to help Raven work through some of her issues.

But she couldn't help but let the bubble of anger form in her chest at the sight of her childhood nemesis laugh at something Kane said and clap the older man on the shoulder. The anger bubble popped almost as quickly as it arrived, replaced by something more wriggly and warm in the depths of her stomach.

She shook her head and ran her hands over her hair, pulled back in a ponytail.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered to herself, walking back across the street and around the shop to where she'd parked her uncle's car. "You're a grown ass woman, Raven."

Shaking her head again, she got into the car, started the engine and headed toward the family  _estate_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raven was fifteen when she started hating John Murphy. Before then, they'd had a tumultuous relationship. Their families' businesses were across the street from each other, so they grew up on the same block.

He ate half her birthday cake when she turned five and proceeded to throw up all over the kiddie pool she and her best friend, Emori, were splashing around in. He pulled her pigtails when they were nine and she kicked him in the shin and slammed her little fist into his nose. When she was one week shy of her thirteenth birthday, his mom died and she watched everyone wearing black fill up  _The Bistro_  after the funeral and didn't say anything when she found him sitting on the dirty ground between the shrubs and the side of  _Mateo's_  with tears rolling down his cheeks.

But it was one certain event, at the age of fifteen, in the height of summer, that really cemented her feelings toward the boy.

They went to the same school, had a few mutual friends, exchanged family oil changes for full course meals...but they were never actually friends. They were just those people who you knew your whole life because of your parents.

Raven and her mom didn't live at the house; they lived in a cramped little apartment near the shop. Which, consequently, was across the street from  _The Bistro_. While her mom worked at the big Sears at the mall and the Applebees, also at the mall, Raven spent most of her time with Uncle Jacapo and the other guys at the shop.

Raven was pretty sure that Jacapo was actually her blood relative from her dad's side, but she never got a straight answer from him or her mom, so it was still up for debate.

In any case, Raven had a natural knack for mechanics and had already learned the major functions of a gasoline fueled engine by the time she was eight. Most nights, she fell asleep with her face plastered against a car manual and the occasional rocket schematics textbook she snuck out of the reference section at the library.

Currently, she decided to tackle her first big project: her own motorcycle. Sure, she wouldn't be able to ride it for a few years, but she could take her time making it perfect. She worked on some pieces at home, getting oil and grease on the rickety kitchen table refurbished straight out of 1950 with a garish yellow tabletop. She worked on most of it at  _Mateo's_.

It was a slow day at the shop. They had a few oil changes, but right now, the bays were empty except for Jacapo's old beater car he was always having the boys work on. In his words, they couldn't fuck it up any more than it already was.

Raven had played with the engine when she was still in single digits and had moved quickly on. Right now, she was in shorts and boots and a tank top because it was hot as hell, her hair piled up on top of her head. A smear of grease swept across her sweaty forehead and she straightened up, her knees happy for the stretch.

Her bike, that started as a mere Harley sportster frame, was coming along. She had it out under the trees by the entrance, the engine block propped up on a couple 2x4's. Nearly the whole town was at the beach, leaving it quiet and sleepy in the humidity, so she didn't think she'd have to worry about someone speeding around the corner and running her over.

Flo Rida blared from the radio in the bays. Turning around, Raven walked toward the open bay. Jasper, one of uncle Jacapo's newest surrogate sons, and Kyle Wick, another one of the family, were taking apart the clunker and Raven peered over their hunched shoulders.

"You need me to draw a diagram for you?" she asked. "I'm sure one of you have crayons in your pockets."

"Ha, ha," Wick replied sarcastically.

"Not all of us are child geniuses like you," Jasper added.

She patted Jasper on the shoulder. "No need to sell yourself short, JJ." With a grin, she walked into the office, hit with a blast of AC. It wasn't as cold as the frozen aisle in a grocery store, but it still beat the heat outside.

Jacapo was behind the counter, in front of a new computer monitor after the last had finally died. He had paperwork scattered all around him. "How's it going?" he asked, without looking up.

Raven squeezed in behind him and opened the mini fridge, grabbing herself a bottle of water. "Good," she said, cracking the seal on the bottle. It was almost too cold to drink, but she chugged a few gulps before gasping for air and leaning against the counter, pushing herself up onto her toes. "Should I be worried about all this?"

"Wha—" he looked up and saw her eyes on all of the papers. He cracked a smile and shook his head. "No, no. Just trying to figure out what I can move to storage. I don't think we need receipts for oil changes from ten years ago at the shop."

Raven wrinkled her nose. "Probably not." She glanced out the glass door back where she knew her bike was sitting around the corner. Jacapo wasn't swamped so maybe this was the best time she could try to convince him to let her drive it even though she had  _just_  gotten her permit and she had to be eighteen to drive a bike. It wasn't like she wanted to go for a joyride or anything… "Say, can I ask you something?"

Jacapo looked up, his eyes warm and kind like she always remembered, and opened his mouth to reply when there was a noise outside. A squeal and crunch.

As if she had a sixth sense, her stomach dropped to the floor and she raced down the hall to burst out the back door. Jasper and Wick had zoomed out of the bays and were staring at the scene with laughter in their faces until Raven skidded to a halt on the hot pavement.

"Shit!" she hissed out, taking in the scene of John Murphy behind the wheel of his dad's massive 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis, which was in real good shape considering its age, except now the fact that the front left corner was crunched in.

Raven's tireless bike was on its side having knocked the engine block onto the ground.

"Are you serious?!" she yelled, stalking forward.

From behind the wheel, Murphy was scrambling out of the car. "Oh, shit." His eyes slid from the bike on the ground to the pure fury that was Raven Reyes stomping her way over to him.

"Are you  _blind_?!"

"I didn't see it!"

"What the hell're you driving for anyway?!" She stopped a foot in front of him, and he flinched, expecting a punch probably. She ground her teeth together and shoved him back against the car with a satisfying  _thunk_.

That was the thing with their birthdays being exactly three months apart: she knew all the things he couldn't do legally because she  _could_  do them first. Like she knew he couldn't have his permit yet.

She pushed her index finger against his chest. "I'm waiting," she said, her voice no longer raised, but just as serious.

"Look, my dad just asked me to bring the car over for an oil change. Raven I'm…" He gulped. He was kinda scrawny and totally terrified of her. Normally, he wasn't  _this_  chicken shit around her, but he knew that he fucked up. Big time. "I'm sorry. I really didn't see it sitting there."

"Which is why you shouldn't be  _driving_ , you dick."

"Raven." Jacapo's voice made her step back, though her jaw was set and her eyes were sending daggers repeatedly into Murphy's skull.

"I  _just_  started working on this! You don't…. _argh!_ " Tossing her arms up in the air, she walked away. Facing the shrubs around the property, she put her hands on her hips and fumed in silence.

And that's when she decided that John Murphy was going to get the short end of the stick from now on. She wouldn't go as far as to say he was her arch nemesis, but it was a close enough description.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Okay," Raven said, forcing a crutch under Jacapo's arm as he tried to get to his feet. "If you won't get in the chair, crutches at least. Or I'm taking you back to the hospital and having the nurses strap you down."

Jacapo laughed, but accepted the second crutch, adjusting his handholds on them as she closed the car door behind him. "Your bedside manner could use work, Raven."

She rolled her eyes and looked behind her.  _The house_  as everyone she knew called it, was an old building. It was two and a half stories, with tall white columns in front, six bedrooms filled with multiple beds, and a few pull out couches in the huge living room and parlor. If anyone ever needed a place to crash, Jacapo would have a place for you, no matter what.

It also had a few stairs up from the driveway and then a few more to walk into the porch. She stayed beside him the whole walk in case he fell, his lower left leg encased in a cast.

"If I knew landing in the hospital was all it took to get you to come home, I would have done something like this sooner," he commented as they got to the base of the porch steps.

Raven slapped his shoulder lightly. "Don't even say that. You could have just asked me to come back," she added more seriously.

"I know," he replied, just as serious. He turned his attention to the stairs just as the front door burst open.

"Welcome home!" Maya Vie _—Jordan_ , Raven had to correct herself, since she and Jasper got married last year which was still weird but oddly perfect for the two of them—said, smiling wide, two year old Jamie nestled on her hip, completely fascinated by a set of keys.

Next out of the doors were Monty and Harper, those sickeningly cute high school sweethearts who actually ended up staying together. Monty was Jasper's best friend and an extension of the family, even if his mind was more for computers and less for mechanics.

The air erupted with voices and Jacapo eventually got into the house. Music played from an unseen room, there was the smell of bacon and eggs for brunch wafting in from the kitchen, and Raven spotted Kyle Wick and Nathan Miller in the other room, playing cards.

Everyone seemed to have shown up for Uncle Jacapo's return.

Raven's heart swelled with love as she grabbed Jamie from Maya, resisting the urge to squeeze his adorable chubby cheeks. Voices rang around the familiar halls as they headed toward Wick and Miller, who cleared the table of cards. Jacapo plopped down in one of the seats and everyone else gathered around the table.

A few moments later, Indra, Jacapo's wife, came through from the kitchen, arms holding plates filled with delicious food. She paused to brush her fingers through his greying, curly hair before returning to the kitchen to grab a stack of plates.

"I think this one wants to join the party," Gaia joined in from the living room, a nine month old baby in her arms. Gaia was Jacapo and Indra's daughter, though she'd followed neither of them into their lines of work. She was willow and airy, having taken philosophy in college and she worked at a New Age shop that the tourists liked, selling crystals and Tarot and often performing rituals for prosperity and good fortune for everyone under the house's roof.

"Was he crying?" Harper jumped up from her seat to take her son out of Gaia's arms. She booped him on the nose with her finger and he grasped at it with his tiny fist.

Gaia shook her head. "He just woke up and looked at me and decided he wanted to be with the rest of us." She walked forward and gave her dad a hug around the shoulders and dipped down to kiss his cheek. "Hey, daddy. Good to have you home. I should have helped you back from the hospital," her eyes fell on Raven.

Raven shook her head. "It's fine. It's good practice for me to see if I remember my way around town as good as I used to."

Gaia smiled and grabbed a thin pancake off the top of the stack with black painted nails. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, munching in the pancake plain as her mom came back in the room with the syrup and forks.

"Jasper and Zeke are at the shop," Wick replied around a mouthful of bacon and eggs. "I'm heading over in a bit."

Emori, Raven's childhood best friend, had once been apart of this family. But after her brother died, she dropped out of high school and moved to California and everyone rarely heard from her anymore. It made Raven sad sometimes, but then she'd realize that everyone had to move on eventually. And she still had everyone here, and her much smaller found family up in Philly.

Raven bounced Jamie on her lap and helped him to some eggs as she munched on bacon and simply soaked in the conversation flitting across and around the table. She'd missed this so much that that's all she could think about. She loved Philly, but how could she have left this?

But then she thought of her shop and Clarke, who'd helped her through some of the roughest patches in college. She thought of her and Clarke's stupid weekly dinners that always ended in too much wine and laughter over Cards Against Humanity, which is always where Clarke's super sweet history professor boyfriend would step in and make sure both of them were getting enough oxygen between giggles. She thought of her regulars who always came in specifically for her, especially the volley of women who loved to see a young woman like herself in such a masculine field. They often reminded her of how many airplanes had been built by women during the world wars.

That was good, too, just a different kind of good.

Raven handed off Jamie to his mom after a while, when Gaia asked if she wanted to go to her store for a bit and she'd give her some tips and the family discount on some crystals and incense. Raven squeezed Jacapo's shoulder and gave Indra a fully blown hug on her way out.

Missing her bike in Philly, Raven followed Gaia to her electric powered car and the two drove to town. The shop, called  _The Flame_ , was on the far end of Main Street near the historic tourist spots.

A few hours later, Raven had a bag of crystals, a small how-to-booklet and a number of herbs and incense. Her head a bit woozy from all the scents and her stomach growling like a demon, Raven stepped out into the sun.

Gaia was filled with so much zen and peace that it was hard not to pick up on it after spending so much time with her. Her girlfriend, Lexa, whose family owned the shop, was just as chill, if not a little bit colder than Gaia. Raven hadn't spent much time with her, but she didn't dislike her.

Swinging the small cloth bag in her hand, Raven headed down Main Street, back toward  _Mateo's_. She passed numerous people she recognized; sometimes she just smiled and waved, and other times she was roped into a short conversation. Her feet pushed onward until she finally spotted the white and blue awning in the distance.

Gaia had told Raven that she had a little turmoil boiling about in her heart. It was so much easier to resort to hatred and annoyance than it was to face feelings she'd shoved way down, but after her hours with the girl named for the mother of Earth and all life, Raven was feeling spontaneous and like she should try to clear the air.

With a deep breath of fresh air, she walked forward, hand outstretched toward the door handle for  _The Bistro_.

It was heavenly cool inside and the air smelled like fresh bread and spices. It was a little after the lunch rush, and just a few people sat at tables. No one she recognized, so they must have been tourists. She saw a few teens in the far corner, but couldn't place which family they belonged to.

"Raven?" The soft, female voice reached her ears and she tore her gaze from the teens to Niylah, John Murphy's older sister.

"Hey," Raven said, smiling wide. Ignoring the apron around her waist and the flour decorating her black shirt, Niylah gave her a hug. "Glad to see this place is still standing."

Niylah smiled a little sadly. "Yep. Haven't seen you in a while."

That's because Raven made an effort to never come here when she was home for the holidays during college and ever since. It was stupid, she knew, but it was so hard to face her past decisions when they still made her stomach twist in a mix of guilt and desire. "I've been up in Philly," she gave as an answer.

"That's great," Niylah said before something behind Raven caught her eye. "Excuse me."

Niylah stepped away and Raven hesitated. She could easily turn around and not have to face John Murphy, but a part of her knew that she'd have to eventually. It had already been eight years.

Pushing herself forward, she walked to the counter at the far side of the restaurant, behind which the fresh breads sat along the wall and the small cooler for desserts sat fully stocked. She leaned against the counter and surveyed the menu, even though she knew it by heart. Well, she thought she did, until she came across new things that she'd never heard of before.

Her body tensed when she heard the kitchen doors swing forward and she turned her back to the door so he couldn't see her face as she walked out, unnaturally large tray balancing on his fingertips like a magic trick.

Raven gnawed on the inside of her cheek and returned to the menu. A few minutes later, she felt the small gust of wind following him as he passed her. She held her breath until he noticed her, slipping behind the counter and then setting his eyes on her.

"Raven?" Much like his sister, he chose a pretty normal greeting, one of surprise and confusion.

Swallowing hard, Raven forced a carefree smile onto her face and straightened her spine, her hands still holding the menu. "Hey. Long time no see," she said, cringing inside.

"Uh...yeah, you could say that."

God, she really shouldn't be here. Not after…everything. It was years ago, but it never had any closure because she'd run to Shaw and then to college and never looked back.

"Things look good here," she commented, avoiding his eyes by making a show to look around as Niylah walked passed, heading to the kitchen.

"Yeah…" He didn't offer her much else, but she couldn't quite read his face. It wasn't anger, which would have been easier. Maybe he'd completely forgotten everything that happened and she was just stuck in the past no matter how much she tried to move on.

"I'm sorry," she said, just as he said, "You hungry?"

The air mingled with their laughter, his humorous, hers nervous.

"Yes," she replied. "It's kind of why I came here."

"Kind of?" He arched an eyebrow and glanced at the tables. Everyone had their food and no one else had come to claim a booth or table. "Well, since you're here, I'll cook for you."

She almost choked on her tongue in surprise. "Excuse me?"

He jerked his head toward the kitchen doors as he walked out from behind the counter. "It's the least you can do after avoiding me for eight years."

_Ouch_. So he did remember. She swallowed and clutched the cloth bag in her hands. It absorbed some of the nervous sweat building on her palms. "Okay, yeah, sure." She nodded and followed him through the swinging doors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raven was sixteen when her best friend started  _dating_  John Murphy. Raven was more pissed at Emori than she was at Murphy.

"But I  _hate_  him!" Raven screeched into the bedroom Emori called her own at the house.

"I'm  _right here_ ," Murphy said from the corner, hastily pulling down his shirt that Emori had tossed to him the second Raven burst into the room unannounced and found them making out on the bed.

Raven said nothing but turned her stone cold glare at him.

Emori sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples as if she were a middle-aged mom. "John, you should go."

"Yes, please leave. And don't come back," Raven fumed as he snatched his boots from the floor and had to slip by her to get to the door. Once he was gone, Raven turned her attention to Emori, who sat down on the edge of her bed in jeans and a bra, not bothering to cover up. She and Raven were as close as sisters, and to be fair, Emori was a little mad at Raven right about now.

"Are you done?" Emori asked, knowing the answer.

"What?! I'm not even started! How...how could you? You know how I feel about... _John Murphy_ ," she made a face at his name, "and then I find you guys sucking face? First off...eww, second off, gross, third off, how could you?"

"You don't  _own me_ , Raven. Just because you don't like John because of something he did like a year ago—"

"Seven months!"

"Whatever. I can kiss whoever I like."

Raven made another face. "But...there's like so many other guys you could have picked. Wells Jaha? He's a babe! Even Finn Collins."

"You dated Finn in the eighth grade."

"I  _know_  and I'd still prefer you go out with him to…" She didn't say his name, but she made the same face as before.

Emori sighed, standing up and finding a shirt to wear. She yanked it over her head and then used the old oval mirror on the wall to straighten out her hair. "I don't want to kiss Wells or Finn, thanks."

"Gaia? Ontari?"

"I'm not really into girls," Emori reminded Raven.

Raven ran her hands through her own hair, yanking at the roots. "I just...don't understand."

Emori shrugged her shoulders and stood in front of her best friend. "You don't have to. You and John haven't liked each other like your whole lives. I don't know why, but whatever. You'll just have to deal."

Raven opened her mouth to retort, but couldn't think of anything to say. She slowly closed her mouth. "Fine," she said after a while through clenched teeth.

Emori nodded, satisfied for now. "Did you still wanna go to the mall?"

Because, in fact, that was the entire reason why Raven had come over here in the first place. Raven hesitated. "If he hurts you, I'll hurt him right back."

Emori sighed, tying a bandana over her hair that matched the t-shirt she was now wearing. "You always do. A punch here, a shove there. People aren't your punching bag, y'know."

"I've only punched him one time and I was nine," Raven said as Emori strapped on some sandals. "And I shove everyone around. It's how I show affection."

"Hugs work better."

"If you think I'm ever gonna hug John Murphy you don't know me that well," Raven scrunched up her nose.

"I would prefer you not to touch my boyfriend at all, thanks."

"Boyfriend?" Raven almost started yelling again. "How long has this been going on?"

Emori shrugged as she shoved a pay-by-the-minute phone into her jeans pocket and turned to Raven. "Like a month."

Raven resisted fake gagging and reminded herself that this was  _Emori_. She wouldn't take Murphy's shit and they'd probably not last very long anyway and then she'd have her best friend back without a horrid boyfriend attached.

"So are we going to the mall or what?" Emori asked again, standing with her hands on her hips.

Of all the things that Emori could have done, this was probably the worst _—_ after wrecking Raven's Harley that was lying in wait for her to turn eighteen so she could drive it all around town.

"Okay," Raven said finally, hanging her head and taking a deep breath. She was going to try her damndest not to let a guy get between her and Emori. She didn't want to be one of  _those_  girls. "Let's go."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy didn't stop in the kitchen. He walked straight through, to the back door, which opened up to a foyer of sorts. Straight ahead, a door to the back of the restaurant. To the left, stairs heading up.

He took her up not one, but two flights to the third floor apartment that sat above the building. "Niylah's on the second floor," he mentioned as they passed the second story front door. It was painted a pale green.

"Uh-huh," Raven said, overwhelmed and breathing deeply, trying to hide the fact that she was clutching Gaia's magic herbs higher and higher, trying to breathe in the soothing lavender. She came her expecting a brief conversation as she sat down with the other customers, ate a quick burger and left to maybe make out with Shaw in the supply room to avoid her  _feelings_.

"Dad's out at the family place, but he still works five days a week," Murphy continued, filing the silence as they got to the top of the stairs. He twisted open the door handle and stepped in.

His apartment was loft style, with everything in view except for the bathroom. To the right, the astoundingly well-made kitchen, followed by a dinner table. In the middle, the living area, with a comfy looking couch and TV, and a big bed in the far left corner by the windows.

She reminded herself that his whole family used to live here, above the restaurant. Before his mom died.

"Nice place," she said, automatically as he made his way into the kitchen. She followed like a ghost. There was a big island, with stools on one side. She sat on one of them and tried to focus. She set down the bag from  _The Flame_  on the counter.

"So, how do you feel about gnocchi?" he asked, his head in the fridge.

"Gesundheit," she replied, broken out of her shocked reverie.

He turned around with a big ceramic bowl covered in plastic wrap. "It's basically pasta and potatoes."

"Starchy." And then she remembered that she was a guest and she leaned against the counter with another faux smile. "But I'll try it."

"Good." He nodded and moved around expertly.

"So...do you like working at your family's place?" she asked, wanting to talk about  _anything_  but the elephant in the room.

"Hell yeah. I love to cook." He turned around and placed a big pot on the stove set in one side of the island. "I didn't go to college, and I've got a set job. What more could I ask for?"

Raven shrugged, turning her lips down a little at the corners. "I have no idea." It was then that she realized she really didn't know much about John Murphy. She knew bits and pieces, stuff that was so out of date it probably wasn't even relevant anymore. "A better driving record?"

He chuckled at that and pointed a finger at her knowingly. "I drive fine, thanks."

She found herself smiling. For real this time. "Good to know some things change."

"You still seem the same. Grease monkey. Family first. Hates my guts."

"I don't…" She sighed, thankful for the bag from Gaia. She messed with the ties at the top to distract herself. "I live in Philly now. I like it up there. But I do miss home. I still get my hands dirty though. You couldn't pay me enough to stay away from cars."

"You just work in a shop in Philly?" he asked, surprised. "What happened to that little girl in pigtails who screamed everyone she saw," he paused and continued in a mockery of a small child's voice, "I'm gonna be an astronaut!"

Raven laughed, unable to help herself and surprised at the fact. "That little girl has a heart defect that NASA won't overlook," she said, humor lingering on her tongue even as the sad truth slipped out. "But I love working on cars and bikes."

"Couldn't you be working on the ground? Fixing rockets and shit."

"Yeah, I could. But it would mean leaving the life I made in Philly." She paused and gnawed on the inside of her lower lip. "Being back here makes me miss all of this. I thought I was totally cool with living in Philly forever but now…"

"Nothing like family to drag you back in, huh?"

She met his eyes then and nodded, saying nothing else.

He nodded too, draining and mixing and plating. He came back to the island and placed a plate in front of her. It looked nice and lumpy with a bit of garnish but it smelled good.

"Thank you," she said earnestly.

He nodded, bringing a plate for himself over too. He sat at the corner after dragging a stool over,  _just_  so that they'd have to face each other to eat.

She tried her first bite and chewed thoughtfully.

"What do you think?" he asked, swirling his fork around his plate to gather up the homemade sauce.

"Could use some...spices. Some chili, some cumin, some corn, or like...a single vegetable," she said, though she kept her tone as light and teasing as she could given her state of guilt that was piling high on her shoulders.

He rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha. Just eat your free food." He tapped her plate with her fork and she dug in.

It was, in fact, delicious.

"You seriously didn't go to culinary school or anything?" she asked, because it was pretty crazy that he could cook this good without training.

He shrugged. "I'm just good at it. Like you."

"I'm good at mechanics, but I wouldn't be able to build a rocket fueled engine without training."

His eyebrows rose. "Ahhh. So you  _can_  build a rocket ship. Can I call you a rocket scientist now?"

"No. Please." She made a face and scraped up the last of her meal. Setting down her fork, she chewed and thought and wrangled with herself and swallowed the last bite of her meal. "I'm sorry," she said again, this time without being spoken over. "For...being such a teenager."

"I'm not really feeling the genuine apology here," Murphy said, his tone skeptical, but his eyes soft.

Did he always look at her like that?

Raven sighed. She wasn't good at this. She was perfect at everything, and she didn't do apologies well. She just moved on and the people around her learned to do the same. "Okay, how about this?" She straightened her back and looked him in the eyes, even though it made her want to squirm. "I'm sorry that I hurt you when we were kids. And I'm sorry for ignoring you after my mom died. I didn't mean for things to go that far and I just...I'm sorry for also avoiding you for eight years."

"Hmmm." He pursed his lips and steepled his hands. "That felt  _slightly_  more genuine."

Her serious face broke and she scoffed. She wished she had something soft to throw at him, like a bread roll or a napkin. "Shut up."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raven was seventeen when her mom passed away. She hated the sadness revolving around her family. The way her various  _uncles_  drank out of plastic cups and talked too loudly about things that had nothing to do with Camila Reyes and more to do with sports or a new part that came in for a restoration. Raven had to wear a  _dress_  which she hated, and it was black and scratchy along the seams. She'd been silent during the ceremony, sweating buckets under the Virginia sun in summer, and now that they were all crowded around the family home, she was hiding on the stairs.

She loved her family, she really did, but she wanted to be  _alone_.

Her and her mother's apartment was blocks away, so she ransacked Emori's room for a pair of baggy jean shorts and a t-shirt, leaving her dress in a pile on the ground. It hurt, to be in this room. Emori was  _gone_. She'd left just a few months ago, after her brother, Otan, died in a car wreck.

Raven hadn't had much to smile about lately.

Shoving up the window in Emori's room, she peered outside. There happened to be a porch that ran along the entire house, which made for sneaking out relatively easy. Once her feet were on the ground, she snuck to the side of the house, found one of the many old bicycles near the old garage and took off toward town to the one place she always felt at peace.

The met ladder going up the side of  _Mateo's_  was there because the roof was flat and it sometimes snowed here in Virginia. If it got really heavy, someone would have to climb up and sweep the snow off so the roof didn't collapse.

Huge old trees hid most of the roof, and the only tall building nearby was  _The Bistro;_ its the second and third stories had been boarded up and empty for a few years now.

Under her, the shop was empty, a closed sign in the window. With a sigh, Raven laid down on the roof. It was late spring, so it was a little hot still as the sun sunk low in the sky, but it was better than being at the house. She always craved being around her sprawling family. She melted into Indra's hugs. She always smiled at Jacapo's jokes. She loved shoving the boys around as they played video games in the living room.

But now? She didn't want to be reminded of the family she'd lost.

So she lay there on the roof, her throat hot and dry from crying all morning. Her eyes had since dried up and now she was just left with an ache in her chest.

An ache that was sadness but also anger because her mom  _left_  her.

An accident, they called it, but Raven knew better. She wasn't stupid. She knew her mom drank too much and that's what inevitably killed her.

Closing her eyes against the purple bruise of the sky, she focused on her breathing and imagined stars on the inside of her eyelids.

One day...one day she hoped to go to space and see the stars unmarred by the atmosphere. She imagined floating in zero-g, a completely solitary and peaceful experience.

She heard the sound of sneakers on the ladder rungs before it really hit her. Someone was here. She chose to ignore it.

"You okay?" someone asked. Someone she didn't like.

She cracked open her eyes and saw John Murphy sitting down next to her. She hated that he was here at the same time that she was grateful. He wasn't family.

"Sorry." He hooked his elbows around his knees and clasped his hands together, keeping himself upright with pure physics. "Stupid question."

"What're you doing here, Murphy?" she asked, her voice sounding not like her own. She hadn't spoken all day.

He shrugged. "I saw you come up here. I just...thought maybe you needed company."

She laughed, but it hurt and she coughed instead, slowly sitting up. "I couldn't be at the house, and I couldn't go back to my apartment," she said, finding it easier to confide in someone who wouldn't then tattle everything to her entire family. Some things she wanted to keep to herself, or as close to herself as she could.

"Yeah. I get that," he said, his eyes shifted to the third story of  _The Bistro_. It had been boarded up for about five years now.

"It's hard to know what to do. How I'm supposed to feel. I'm so...angry."

He didn't say anything to make her upset. He didn't belittle her feelings or agree with her or anything.

And for once, it didn't bother her. "Murphy," she said, her voice soft because she was just so tired of the anger built up inside of her chest. She lifted her hand and touched his arm.

He tore his eyes away from his former home and looked at her. Raven wasted no time leaning forward and kissing him, short and quick, before she talked herself out of it.

Shock was written across his face. "Raven," he said, ready to scoot back. She thought, for a second that he was going to say that he wasn't over Emori, even though they'd only dated for a few months, but then he said something that surprised her. "I don't think this is a good idea."

Maybe her face was saying something definitive that her mind and heart weren't caught up to yet. She gave herself over to her body. "I don't care," she said, leaning to kiss him again, this time with more purpose.

His hands eventually settled on her hips and then her back was against the roof and he was on top of her. Their hands were clumsy but they found purpose and Raven went all in. She wanted to forget and this was the easiest way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I really am sorry," Raven said, once the final late lunch dish had been set into the drain rack. John had been standing there, drying and putting things back in cabinets as she washed.

"Yeah, I know."

He was taking this surprisingly well. At seventeen, it definitely must have felt like the end of the world.

But she was going to stop apologizing now. She felt a little bit of guilt leaving her and she accepted them. Drying her hands, she turned to him, where he was cornered between the counter next to the sink and the fridge. "Thank you for lunch," she said, unsure of where to go from here.

They'd never been friends; that was a hard rule. So what did she do now that she'd cleared the air as well as she could?

"You're welcome." He stayed in his little corner. "Are you seeing anyone? Back in Philly."

Jarred, Raven frowned. "Uh...not currently." She casually saw a number of people over the years in Pennsylvania, but she hadn't had a solid boyfriend since Shaw, which was somewhat embarrassing.

"Good, good." He dipped his head down, his chin almost brushing his chest as he stepped forward, smoothly slipping his arm around her hips. "So, if I wanted to kiss you, I could?"

Her hands automatically went to his chest, though whether to push him away or not was to be seen. Her mind whirled. Maybe some tiny part of her had held onto that night like a stupid teenager even as she got older, but it had meant a lot to her and she wasn't made of ice. Her muscles lost their tension and she looked up at him.

Without saying anything, she pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him, her arms sliding around his neck. His body was warm and he smelled so nice. She pressed back, trapping him between the fridge and her body. His hands roamed, though they couldn't get very far through her romper until he pushed her straps down and it revealed her plainest bra ever. Neither of them cared.

He lifted her to the counter and she wrapped her legs around his hips. Their hands worked together to get his shirt off and she kissed his neck and his shoulders and dragged her blunt nails over his skin.

Everything was fast and needy, but some huge part of her had stepped forward and it  _wanted_  John Murphy with a burning desire that she hadn't known was hidden away until now. She voiced her needs against his ear and gave a tiny yelp when he lifted her up and carried her to his bed.

She bounced down onto the mattress and he pulled off her romper and her underwear as she toed off her shoes and reached down to undo his pants. They moved together almost frantically, hands and lips and hips. She dug her hands into his back and moaned into his mouth, back arching when he pushed inside of her.

They moved together, her fist in his hair, the other arm thrown up to press against the wall. Their breathing was haggard and their hearts sped to keep up. Raven bit down on her bottom lip and swallowed a moan when he settled back on his knees and ran his hands down her thighs, lifting her hips.

Raven looked at him through half-lidded eyes and lost herself in the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raven was eighteen when she got arrested. If they'd been at home, she could have easily talked herself out of even being put in cuffs, but they were in the neighboring town and she could do nothing.

It was  _so stupid_  and she shouldn't even  _be here_. She hadn't meant to be anywhere near a gas station robbery. She hadn't even known what Shaw was doing until it was too late.

"Son of a bitch," she hissed as they were shut into the back of the cop car, hands cuffed.

He leaned against her shoulder, enjoying himself. He always did like her fury. "C'mon, sweetheart, it'll be fine."

"You should have told them I had no idea what you were planning," she said before the cops got into the cab.

"It was just a couple twenties and some free alcohol." He shrugged.

She glared.

At first glance, that had seemed like a good idea. Shaw was a year older than her, and he'd worked at the shop for a year and a half. He was never disrespectful, especially at  _Mateo's_ , but she'd have to be blind to see he didn't like her.

Or maybe he just wanted to sleep with her.

She didn't really care much after her mom died. She'd gone on a date with him. Three dates and then told him she'd been with no one else—a lie, since she'd had sex way too young with Finn Collins and there was John Murphy just a month before—and he seemed to like the fact that he could  _have_  that.

She let him think whatever he wanted if he took her out and made her forget how much she was hurting inside. She spent all of her time with him when she wasn't at school and he wasn't working. Sometimes they made out in the back of someone's car left at  _Mateo's_  overnight or hooked up in the supply closet.

Without Emori, Raven floated around in school. She blatantly ignored Murphy, acting as if he didn't exist. A part of her twisted inside with guilt every time she did it, but the bigger, angrier part of her took over.

She was in too deep by the time she started to heal and to feel better. She was nearing graduation and she and Shaw had been together for too long for her to just  _leave_.

She hadn't anticipated him robbing a store just to get some cash that he really didn't need since she knew Jacapo paid pretty well.

"I didn't sign up for this," she said under her breath as the cops started heading to the station.

Shaw sighed. "I didn't actually plan this. It just happened."

She growled and rested her head back against the seat. "I should have broken up with you three months ago like I wanted."

"What?"

Raven glanced over at him, beyond caring now. "I was going to break up with you. But I never got around to it."

He frowned and narrowed his eyes at her and didn't say a thing for the rest of the ride.

The station was bright when they were brought inside. It was a minor offense and they were uncuffed.

"This was all on me," Shaw said, as the cops went to get stuff to start the paperwork.

"'Scuse me, son?" one of them said.

Shaw glanced at Raven. "She didn't know. I forced her to drive for me."

Raven's eyes widened. But she didn't say anything, afraid that anything she did say would be taken the wrong way.

The cops glanced between each other and the first one huffed. "Anything you gotta say, miss?"

She swallowed. "I swear I didn't know. I thought we were just getting snacks to see a movie." The truth.

"Yeah?" They glanced between each other. "You got someone to call?"

She wasn't sure what sort of wrath she'd face when she got home, but it had to be better than jail. "Yes," she said, proving just how bad she was at relationships. Shaw watched her sadly as she called Jacapo, and she couldn't even thank him.

Whatever it was that changed his mind, she didn't want to know. All she wanted was to be back home, wrapping in an afghan blanket that smelled like home and watching Monty and Harper as they played the most polite game of Monopoly in the world.

A tiny part of her wanted to apologize to Murphy too, but the guilt was too thorough, totally mixed in with who she'd grown to be in the last year. She didn't think a single apology would be enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We got better at that," Raven said, staring at the ceiling in her bra, the nearest blanket covering her lower half. She lifted a hand and brushed hair away from her forehead.

Murphy chuckled next to her. "No one has great sex at seventeen."

"Fair point," she said, the haze of a smile on her face. She tilted her head to the side to look over at him. Now that  _this_  had happened, she didn't know where to go next. She had never expected to end up here. "God, I hope no one heard."

"Nah. There's a whole floor between us and we have music playing in the restaurant," he said, unconcerned.

With a sigh of relief, Raven rolled onto her side and looked down at him, resting an arm against his chest while she propped herself up with the other. "I'm going back to Philly in a few days," she said, sobering the mood.

"Always cutting and running on me, Reyes." He opened his eyes, and she saw a flash of disappointment.

"I never planned for this to happen," she confessed. "And...I don't know. I may move back here. I miss...everything."

He put one of his hands on hers, pressing it over his heart, which was beating furiously. "A lot of shit happens here."

"Bad shit happens everywhere," she countered with a little frown.

Letting go of her hand, he lifted his fingers to her face, smoothing out the wrinkles on her forehead. "Hey, don't go uprooting your life for me."

She leaned into his touch. "It's not for you. My family is here. And...I got a job offer. Well I mean, I applied and I got an offer."

"Where?"

"Langley."

"Wait...at the NASA place?"

She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. "Yeah, that's the one."

He sat up then, forcing her to do the same. "Raven, that's amazing."

"I've been telling myself to try to keep my options open but...it would be close to here. I could come home on weekends and be a part of everything. I could watch Jamie and Jordan grow up and…" She paused, lifting her own hand and trailing her fingertips from his shoulder to his chest. "Maybe we could try something out."

"You sure do go from zero to sixty real quick."

"I've had eight years. It's not that quick."

"Last I remember, you really hated me. With a passion."

"Totally superficial."

"It's a good thing I accepted your apology then."

She rolled her eyes and pushed against him with just her fingers. He barely swayed. "Let's just see how things go, okay?"

He nodded, a smile toying on his face. "Okay, okay. Whatever you say, Raven Reyes."


End file.
